Marcos SALN disclosure could lead to his bankruptcy
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. refuses to disclose his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for one key reason. This would help investigators, plaintiffs and a future administration unfriendly to the Marcoses to track and recover the billions linked to his family’s notorious alleged ill-gotten fortune, amassed during his father’s 20 years of rule, 13 of which as a dictator.
If they do manage to have Marcos’ assets declared in his SALN — which are subject to forfeiture to fulfill a United States federal court judgment — his family could end up bankrupt — unless, of course, he and his wife have managed to stash their own ill-gotten wealth.
The forfeiture cases against the Marcos assets still stand. Robert Swift, the lawyer for the group of human rights victims that won the class judgment from the Hawaii court, got an initial 10-year extension of the statutory limit in 2011 and another 10 years extension, which extends the judgment to 2031. But a new administration hostile to the Marcoses in 2028 could scramble to collect on the US court’s judgment.
“One document that would be helpful to the class is Marcos Jr.’s statement of assets which, by law, he is required to file each year,” Swift told me a year ago. The class can execute on his assets until the judgment expires.
Reflecting the family’s political influence, Marcos has not made public his SALN in the 12 years that he has been in Congress as representative and then senator. His mother Imelda reportedly filed hers in 2011 and 2014, with two media reports claiming these totaled P1 billion for each year. The actual SALNs were not publicly released, giving investigators no clue as to what assets she held that could be confiscated.
For most officials, failure to publicize it would mean dismissal or prosecution. For Marcos — a president with direct access to assets challenged for decades — secrecy functions as a shield against restitution claims worldwide. If new properties, bank accounts, partnerships or foreign assets were listed, it would allow a new round of tracing, asset freezes and lawsuits both in the Philippines and abroad.
Decades
The gravity of the concealment is felt in the landmark legal failures following three US court judgments:
$2 billion Hawaii class action (1995): More than 7,526 martial law victims were awarded the largest damages outside sovereign litigation. However, their lawyers were able to confiscate and release only about $20 million.
$353.6 million US contempt judgment (2012, affirmed 2023): Imelda and Marcos Jr. were fined for their repeated defiance of court asset freeze orders. The monetary sanction — made up of daily penalties, the largest in US appellate history — remains uncollected. No US or Philippine asset has been officially attached, and enforcement demands direct action from Philippine authorities who have not cooperated.
The Arelma account: The hidden Panamanian shell, set up by Marcos Sr., still holds at least $41 million. Arelma, S.A. was a Panamanian corporation holding the funds at Merrill Lynch, New York, complicating direct seizure. The Philippine government needed to obtain recognition of local forfeiture orders in US courts, which required navigating US legal standards for due process and foreign judgment… After years of litigation, only partial disbursements reached victims or the Philippine government. Competing claims, court transfers and asset location problems mean most funds remain frozen and inaccessible
Layers
Since 1986, the Presidential Commission on Good Government claims total recoveries of P280 billion — about $5 billion — through decades of relentless asset hunts. These gains include:
A significant share of this recovered treasure funded national agrarian reform, financing some land redistribution since 1998. Yet the original estimated loot — $10 billion or more — remains largely unrecovered, hidden in foreign banks, secret trusts and the names of proxies.
Much of the most public recovery came from Swiss litigation after publication of the Marcos couple’s accounts in Swiss banks — a feat some claim was due to the US intelligence services’ efforts to help oust the dictator. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled for the transfer of $658 million held in secret accounts, delivered to the Philippine Treasury in 2004. These victories required years of collaboration with Swiss authorities and international prosecutors, and detail the vast reach of the original asset hunting operations. Properties forfeited under the Sandiganbayan’s orders — including the 58-hectare Paoay estate in Ilocos — were similarly won only after protracted court wars.
With major shares in Filipino companies surrendered by cronies (like Jose Y. Campos), asset tracing often revealed the world of corporate veiling used to disguise original holdings. Yet much of the Marcos financial empire — built on diverted loans and aid, infrastructure skimming and crony capitalism — remains out of reach, its current value unknown.
Estate taxes
One of the Philippines’ largest unresolved civil penalties is the Marcoses’ P200 billion in estate tax, affirmed by its Supreme Court. No seizure, collection or asset freeze has ever materialized due to executive indecision and Bureau of Internal Revenue inactivity. The president’s decision to keep his asset records secret only aids such evasion, multiplying bureaucratic paralysis at every level.
Beyond simple refusal, the Marcos strategy hinges on delay. Each judicial loss yields new appeals or objections, with litigation stretching asset tracing into decadeslong marathons. Often, compromise agreements and negotiated settlements recover some cash or property from cronies, but never the lion’s share of what courts say is owed. Claimants and agencies battle for each peso against a sprawling estate, vast networks of corporate fronts and uncooperative officials.
Even when courts do win asset transfers, as with the Swiss accounts or luxury art, proceeds arrive slowly. As of the end of 2023, auctions of jewelry (worth over P1 billion) from the Marcos trove are only now being planned, more than three decades after seizure
Even the partially recovered funds — like those from the Arelma and Swiss accounts — have only resulted in sporadic, small victim compensation. Enforcement complications abound: some cases have been complicated by rival claims from the Philippine government, other victims or institutions asserting priority.
Nondisclosure is more than a tool; it is the model. The signal sent from the top is clear: accountability can be indefinitely postponed for those with enough power or legal talent. Government offices responsible for collection have grown reticent, lacking the political will to challenge the highest office. Since the refusal to disclose the SALN dovetails with nonenforcement on taxes and estate penalties, the odds against meaningful asset recovery only increase.
So long as the presidency maintains its secrecy, institutions follow suit. The world’s most famous asset recovery saga will remain unresolved, not for want of legal grounds, but for want of public will and transparency. SALN nondisclosure locks justice in a procedural dead end. For the victims, government and anyone who believes rule of law matters, the lesson is unambiguous: only radical transparency, starting at the very top, can restore the possibility of collecting even a fraction of what has been judged, seized or even hoped for.
However, this saga has resulted in a poetic justice of sorts. An often-used slogan recently by student activists and even ordinary people, since the horrendous ghost flood control corruption scandal broke out has been “Marcos, Marcos Magnanakaw” shouted to the tune of the American “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The nearly forgotten masses’ condemnation of Marcos kleptocracy during the 45 years of the elder Marcos’ rule has been angrily revived. Among the middle class, a favorite quip is that corruption is carried in the Marcos’ DNA.
Frasco’s fiasco
After the severe flooding caused by Typhoon Tino in Cebu earlier this month, a respected lawyer and law professor Julito Añora Jr. filed both administrative and criminal complaints against Rep. Vincent “Duke” Frasco and seven municipal mayors from Cebu’s fifth district, including his cousin Aljew, Liloan mayor. The complaints were submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas and accused the officials of gross neglect of duty, grave misconduct, dereliction of duty and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
Añora argued that they should have called off an official trip to Europe given advance warning about the typhoon, as their absence allegedly left affected towns without proper leadership and emergency response when the disaster struck.
According to the complaint, their actions violated several Philippine laws: Republic Act (RA) 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act; RA 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees; RA 7160, or the Local Government Code; and RA 10121, or the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act. Añora requested their investigation, preventive suspension, dismissal from office, forfeiture of benefits and permanent disqualification from holding public office. Only one mayor canceled his trip when he learned of impending bad weather, while the rest continued their official travel.
The suit has drawn much public attention, prompting parallel inquiries by the Department of the Interior and Local Government as well as the Ombudsman’s Office, since if the mayors are convicted, this would emphasize to local officials that they have to make sure they are with their constituents to mobilize emergency services during disasters.
Indeed, the structure and procedures of municipalities is such that without the mayor present, their staff and resources cannot be mobilized since these all require a mayor’s signatures. Social media posts have shown pitiful images and videos of terrified residents of Frasco’s hometown Liloan taking refuge on their rooftops. Not a single image or video shows any municipal rescue vehicles and staff. Liloan suffered the most deaths, 36, from the typhoon in all of Cebu province.
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Marcos SALN disclosure could lead to his bankruptcy
Source: Breaking News PH
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